CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team posted a 4-0 mark in an nine-day period that included three road games and wins over the Southern Conference defending co-champions as well as the SoCon tournament winner, to move into first in the league standings.

The Lady Mocs are now 16-3 on the year, ranked fourth in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, and 9-1 in league action.

The nine-day odyssey began at Davidson, defending SoCon regular season co-champion, on Friday, January 18 at the Wildcats' Belk Arena. After a near-stalemate throughout the first half, the Lady Mocs went 6-of-6 from the floor over the final six minutes, including an 11-0 run to close out the half, and led 35-27 at the break. Chattanooga would push its lead to as much as 12 point early in the latter half, but Davidson was able to get as close as one point twice more before the final buzzer.

The game marked the return of 6-foot-3 junior Faith Dupree (Knoxville, Tenn.) to Chattanooga's lineup since sustaining a knee injury against ETSU on November 17 at the Roundhouse. She scored 11 points, including eight of Chattanooga's first 10, in just 14 minutes in her return.

On Sunday, the Lady Mocs used a balanced scoring attack getting points from all 12 players at Western Carolina. The starters were able to rest with junior point guard Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) playing the most at 26 minutes. UTC shot 49.1 percent from the field and drained 10 3-pointers while leading wire-to-wire. Chattanooga's largest lead of the game was 36, 64-28, when sophomore Ka'Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.) dropped in a 3-pointer with 7:06 to play.

The Lady Mocs traveled to Birmingham in a mid-week matchup to take on the Southern Conference Tournament champion Samford at the Pete Hanna Center in the Southern Rail Rivalry Series. Chattanooga once again used a balanced attack on the offensive end with three players combining for 38 points in the win. Chattanooga moved into first place with the win, tied with Elon for the lead.

UTC got out to a sizzling 15-0 start with a trio of 3-pointers from juniors Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) and Meghan Downes (Newnan, Ga.) and led the Bulldogs 30-19 at halftime. However, Samford regrouped in the second half and, despite having just seven players available for the game, managed to get to within two points six times over the second half. Jazmine Martin led the assault with 22 second half points and 31 for the game but UTC never lost the lead.

In the middle of a six-game stretch that includes five road games, the Lady Mocs returned home to host Appalachian State, defending SoCon regular season co-champion, on Saturday. Chattanooga led 31-24 at halftime, but a scoring drought in the second half helped the Mountaineers to tie it up 47-47 on an 18-3 run that saw UTC make just three free throws. The Lady Mocs pushed its lead up to 53-49, but ASU scored six straight to snare a 55-53 lead.

A jumper from Hall tied it up at 55-55 with 1:20 to play and Christopher put UTC on top for good with two free throws with just 33 seconds to play. Towns snared a steal with 20 seconds to play on the ASU end of the court and quickly sent the ball down court where the Mountaineers fouled UTC with just over four seconds to play. However, the Lady Mocs missed both free throws and Hall was fouled on the offensive rebound with 3.5 seconds to play. She drained both shots for the final score and Chattanooga briefly took over sole possession of first.

The Wildcats defeated Elon on that Saturday to knock the Phoenix out of first and followed with a win over Western Carolina on Monday to move into a tie with UTC atop the league standings.

Chattanooga begins the second half Saturday afternoon at Furman. The game is set to tip off at 1:30 p.m. at Timmons Arena and will be aired Sunday on CSS at Noon.

The Lady Mocs are 16-3 overall and first in league play with a 9-1 mark. The Lady Mocs are first in the league in scoring margin at 13.8 points per game. Chattanooga is averaging 69.0 points per game and give up 55.2, both second in the SoCon rankings. From the floor, UTC is third in the league shooting 41.6 percent and fourth from the 3-point line making 31.4 percent. On the boards, UTC is second in the SoCon with 40.1 rebounds per game while allowing opponents 37.4 per game. The Lady Mocs are ranked first in the SoCon for turnover margin with 14.4 miscues per game compared to opponents' 19.3 and first for assist-turnover ratio with 15 assists to 14.4 turnovers.

Ashlen Dewart leads the Southern Conference in field goal percentage making 51.7 percent of her shots, third in the SoCon for scoring with 15.7 points per game and has a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game. Kayla Christopher is second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game and leads the conference in assist-turnover ratio with 3.1 assists to 1.6 turnovers. She is second in the SoCon for 3-point field goal percentage (.424) and third for 3-pointers made (2.1/game) while ranking fifth for field goal percentage at 46.5 percent. Taylor Hall is third on the team in scoring with 9.5 points per game and rebounding with 5.8 per game. Kylie Lambert ranks second on the team in rebounding with 6.1 boards per game

The Paladins are 8-11 on the year and sixth in the league standings with a 4-6 mark. With 60.4 points per game, Furman is fourth in scoring offense and 10th in scoring defense giving up an average of 70.5 to its opponents. From the field, Furman is shooting 35.9 percent and 70.4 percent from the free throw line. At the 3-point line, the Paladins average a league-low 3.4 treys per game and shoot 28.5 percent. On defense the Paladins average 7.9 steals per game and 2.8 blocked shots while averaging 38.8 rebounds per game and giving up 40.9 to their opponents. Teshia Griswold leads the Paladins with 13.5 points per game and averages1.4 3-pointers per game with 27 through 19 games. She is fourth-best in the SoCon from the free throw line shooting 89.1 percent. Brittany Hodges, second on the team in scoring is ranked 19th in the league with 9.8 points per game while Kaitlin Murphy is third for the Paladins with 7.8 points per game. Hodges leads her team with 6.9 rebounds per game and is eighth in the league shooting 43.8 percent from the field. Brigid Morrissey leads the team with 3.1 assists per game while Murphy is averaging 2.8. Hodges has a team-high 1.4 blocked shots per game, 2.7 grabs off the offensive glass and 4.2 on the defensive end.

PREVIOUS MEETING - 12/1/12 IN CHATTANOOGAThe two teams met earlier this season with a December matchup. Chattanooga cruised to an 83-40 win, its largest of the year. Three UTC players scored in double figures led by Dewart's 21 points. Black had 14 points and three steals in the game while Christopher scored 12 points in 20 minutes. The Lady Mocs shot 55.9 percent from the field and outrebounded the Paladins 45-27.

SERIES HISTORYChattanooga leads the series with Furman 43-21 dating back to 1985 when the Paladins joined the Southern Conference. On the road, UTC is 18-11 against Furman and 26-7 in the Wes Moore Era. Last season at Timmons Arena, Chattanooga's 21-game win streak against the Paladins was snapped with a 75-61 loss. The Lady Mocs rebounded, however, eliminating Furman from the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals by a score of 60-38 and trounced the Paladins 83-40 earlier this season at the Roundhouse.

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